Lotica

Yeah, that metal texture was a placeholder for the time being. I'm definitely going to vary things up with the textures. Don't you worry! ;)

Hello folks! This is Lotica here. A few years ago, I started on a project that was too ambitious for my abilities at the time. I mean hell, I didn't even know how to do a door, and I was trying to go for an "epic" RPG or something (Wasn't I edgy, huh?). So, that project was indeed scrapped. So I decided to go small and do a basic DOOM wad, as I like to go for something that has the feel of the original game. There's no name or even a story (if one will exist) yet. I only started on the project this week and it'll probably be a random schedule of when I do work on the thing. What I can show off is video of the first level I'm working on at the moment. Everything in the level is subject to change and a lot of the rooms built aren't even finished yet. Any switches, enemies, etc. are subject to change. FYI: The music is "Task Force" from Rise of The Triad.

I mean, there's nothing technically wrong with the map, it does seem like a good DM map, but it needs some more decorations, with textures and whatever. Make the structure look dignified, not like a boring square thing.

It's an okay map, but seems a bit bland to my tastes.

Hello all! Before I talk about my project, I just wanted to give a brief introduction to myself. My name is Lotica, and if you wouldn't know just from me joining the site, I'm a big DOOM fan. I wasn't exactly a fan of it when it first came out (mainly due to me being too young at the time and my parents not even owning a computer until the late 90's or so), but due to my non-liking for newer FPS', DOOM seems like my kind of game. I'm such a big fan that I can distinguish what makes up the engine without getting too technical, such as the way the doors open and how weapons work, even if a custom WAD proclaims it has "new" weapons. I'm not a smart-ass, but I just play the game so much over the years that it just started to draw on me. Anyways, enough of myself, onto my project. It's called Trinity, and honestly, it's a project I've been wanting to do for awhile. Let me explain the story, as this is one of the more important aspects of the game. You are Harvey Thompson, a well-educated man who has a nice family and a job as a technical supervisor at the Robertson Technical Institution. One day, CEO of the company, Mark Stevens, gets the idea of creating an army of androids that serve the purpose of taking care of everyday needs. His idea was instead of wasting a lot of money on creating an entire structure for each android, he would take a human, strip the skin off of them, and use their structure to build off of them, which would also give them a sense of personality and some knowledge, since the way this would be done would keep the brain intact. His partners found this to be a wonderful idea and work began immediately on the blueprints. As soon as they were done, word began spreading that the company would need any willing to sacrifice their bodies in order to make this experiment work. Surprisingly, the draft doesn't go well, so the company decides to take force and draft any of their higher ranked employees on the list, and Harvey is the first. When he's asleep, some suspicious looking characters knock Harvey unconscious and take him out of his home. When he wakes up, he is strapped to a chair, with pools of blood on the floor and a majority of his body covered in titanium, with only his face visible. After the shocking realization, Harvey breaks out, kills the two guards that stand near him, and he is set out to find the CEO and deal with him personally. The story is still in progress, but I just wanted to get the main framework done before the little details are added in. As for gameplay, I still want to keep the DOOM formula in while adding my own touches to it. I was thinking about a RPG element to be added, such as improving stats and dialog with NPCs. Since is this my first DOOM project, I provide that this isn't going to be a quick thing for me to do. I am familiar with DOOM, but actually building my own DOOM WAD is something I have never done and it's only been recently when I first started messing around with DOOM Builder. That doesn't mean I'm not on some sort of deadline. If it was a profitable thing, then it would matter, but in this case, I can take as long as I want. Hell, some of the most successful projects on this site have taken as long as eight years or so and while the anticipation sucked, the product was great either way. I'm working first on the levels themselves, adding all the detail and everything that needs to be in before I add the little touches such as the RPG elements and of course, the story. If anything occurs and I need to do those two things during the level design, it won't be a problem. Here's a shot of the first room in the game. It's nothing special or doesn't look that great, but it serves the purpose for right now. I'll work on it to improve on the detail or whatever. To see the image full size: http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/3193/zandronum20130504124452.png That is all for now. If you guys like what you hear or see, let me know. Feedback is what keeps me going, even if it's negative. Thanks all!

I'm still experimenting with the textures. I thought they looked good to me, but if they seem out of place, I will change them. I wanted that part of the ceiling to pop out more.

Hey Vader, how did you manage to create the walkways on the second shot? I would have some great use for that in my project.

Okay, so I did the first area from scratch again, and while it's not complete, it's to a point where I can begin working on the rest of the level. I focused a lot on this area because I wanted the player to be immersed from the start, what with the dark lighting and what not. I haven't made a chair yet, but I'm going to work on that soon. Here's two screenshots: The reason why I did this from scratch is that I wanted to do it in the Doom in Hexen format, and for some reason, I deleted the previous wad that had the level from the first shot on it. It's okay, because I was just modifying a Doom 2 wad for some reason, and now this one is completely from scratch.

I just decided to go with doing the room from scratch. I do have a majority of it done and I'm improving on it as I go on. The chair where your character would escape looked like a piece of shit, just some odd looking throne. Would making the chair out of an object or just using linedefs be a big deal?

Yeah, I'll be doing that later on. What does everyone think of the weapons idea? Would that be a good idea?

So what would be your advice? Stay with Doom in Doom format or go with Doom in Hexen format? Would it be easier to copy what I have in the first level from the old wad to a new one or make the level all over again in a new wad with the Doom in Hexen format as the config? Again, this is my first time using Doom Builder, and I want to make sure what I'm doing is correct and won't corrupt the files (I had that sort of situation happen with other editing programs for different games; it's not the best feeling in the world). Even if I had to create a new wad from scratch, it wouldn't be that bit of a deal, as I could simply put two windows with the different wads showing and simply go from there.

This looks amazing! I especially love the shot of the cave. I would never think to see something built in Doom like that. Superb! Can't wait for it!

On topic of weapons, since it would possibly involve the story, would the weapons be good if they were just your standard weapons held by hand or since the main character is an android, he could obtain upgrades that he simply detach when he wanted to go from one to another. If that's the case, I would have to add a detail about how the corporation is developing or has developed these upgrades beforehand. What do you guys think? Also, does anyone have any answers to my previous question about the Hexen format?

Question: How difficult would it be to transfer a level from a DOOM 2 wad modified in the Skulltag (Doom in Doom format) game config to the Skulltag (Doom in Hexen format)? I wasn't aware that the Hexen format was better for accomplishing some of the things I wanted to do, such as the script that was provided before, and I want to keep the level structure in contact. Not to mention, the actions list for things such as doors is arranged in a different way and if I put the level from the original wad as is, it doesn't function correctly. Also, thanks Springy, and I thought the current version of Zandronum uses 2.6.1 of ZDoom. I'm just going from numbers on that part. lol And who knows, Ribbiks, who knows. lol

Yeah, I would figure. :P

Isn't Windows 8 the same thing as Windows 7 except with a shit interface? Why would it have problems?

Terry has a good start if he would stop his trolling nonsense. Honestly, I do laugh at his trolling attempts, but at this point, it does get a bit annoying.

Uh... no, why is that? lol

That's what I figured, I was following a tutorial that didn't even mention to flip the line over. Thanks! Also, I want to start the player with no weapon in this first level. How would I do that?

Thanks man. I was considering doing something like that, but I was afraid that a lot of people would complain about it being too short or something. Maybe I'm looking too much into it? Also, this is a newbie question (of course), but I'm trying to make a door. It's right here: Each line def here in green has the action marked to DR Door Open Wait Close (also monsters), and I did manage to get the door working from the inside of the first room I showed in my first post, but on the other side, it doesn't work. It closes, but it won't respond to my input. Any advice?